I've threatened to throw this thing out a couple of times. We broke a slat. Lost a screw. The paint was peeling and I saw spots that appeared moldy. But we continued to move it from house to house. Justin saw the potential but we never took the time.
We finally took this project on this weekend. I immediately wanted to buy new boards because some were bowed out and the hardware was rusty. Justin said we could fix them. I was skeptical. But he was right.
Here is how we renovated, revived, and gave this bench a new life.
You could do this by hand with a wrench but really if it's rusty you might have to use WD-40 and a power drill attachment.
I saw this tactic on YouTube. I didn't do it for 10 hrs but if you do you will probably see similar results to the video. I gave it about 2 hours.
Wear safety glasses while doing this and you could also use gloves.
We power washed the iron arm rests and set them to the side with the newly painted hardware. As these were drying, we began working on our boards.
We used a belt sander with 80 & 120 grit pads. Wear safety glasses because even with the vacuum bag there is debris that flies around.
We used a clamp to keep the board in place while we ran the belt sander down it.
This takes a while but when you are finished, see if you need any additional boards.
We had to buy one $12 board that was 4 ft long for the project, and we knew the stain wouldn't be exactly the same and were okay with that. (We have an exciting project planned for that part of the bench
Justin had to bevel the edge since it would be the top board of the bench where the iron armrest tapers.
I used a clean, dry cloth to wipe down the boards, let dry, and repeat on the back and sides.
Once it was dry, we used our Ditch Witch as a work bench outside and lifted it higher to keep the baby from reaching it.
Remove excess immediately because it will get syrupy before it dries. And it will be harder to get it off.
We had to wait overnight for ours to dry. It was hot, humid, and there was no wind the day we did this so dry times will vary with the weather. Also, plan to use this stain when you know it won't rain 24 hours after.
When the boards did dry, we began to reassemble the bench.
We also tested our marriage at this point. Yes, coming to an agreement on the best strategy for reassembling was not easy. Eventually, we ended up using bits of both methods. We started with the top and worked our way down, putting only one side on at a time.
Once you are reassembled, and attached your " L" shaped metal backing. Set the bench up and make sure it is correctly aligned.
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TIP: We decided to turn the boards over when we reattached them because they were less weathered and by doing this as well we are able to counteract any curvature that has occurred over the years.
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And now we are able to enjoy this bench for years to come:
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